To studio executives, producers, casting teams, commissioners, and all those shaping the future of recorded performance,

We write at a moment when artificial intelligence is already the topic of much dispute, discussion and grave concerns throughout the industry.

Most recently, a major studio who owns the IP for an international children’s franchise producing a long running animated television series has offered contracts to child voice actors insisting that they agree to the use of AI thus allowing them to use the child’s voice in all commercial assets within their franchise. The refusal to remove this clause with an attitude of ‘take it or leave it’ has led us write this letter to make it clear that this will not be accepted and to bring this matter to the attention of the wider industry.

Where the performer is a child, consent must be treated with the greatest of care. Children cannot provide fully informed legal consent and a parent or guardian’s approval should never be used as a blanket licence to capture, clone, train, or reuse a child’s voice indefinitely

Any agreement involving a child’s voice should be fully exempt from all AI usage. No child should have their future professional identity shaped by an AI model created before they were old enough to understand its consequences. Their voice should not become a permanent commercial asset before they have the legal and personal capacity to decide for themselves.

We the undersigned urge you to commit to responsible industry practice. Collectively, we reject all contracts that require child performers to surrender voice rights indefinitely and without limits.